In my opinion Candide is a book written for the main purpose of presenting the author, Voltaire's, views of life. Throughout the book he never fails to present different characters and issues to portray a message about the world that he lived in. If he wasn't satirizing religion he was ridiculing human beings optimism in an evil world. The characters in the book all serve as a representation of his many beliefs about the world. Candide is itself a satiric book.
             The main character is Candide and he is the protagonist in the novel. Voltaire satirizes the character Candide to portray the folly of optimism. From the beginning of the book Candide is portrayed as a man of innocence. He is a follower of Pangloss, a philosopher. Pangloss teaches him "since God must be perfect, we live in a perfect world." Pangloss holds dear to these beliefs and teaches Candide to do the same. Throughout the book, Candide and Pangloss encounter and witness endless mishaps in their life, however they remain optimistic. They receive floggings, go through near death experiences, and witness the inhumanity of the world yet they remain optimistic. Voltaire uses their life to demonstrate them as foolish men. As we go through the book Voltaire doesn't show Pangloss relent in his beliefs and shows further the stupidity of men as he gives bizarre explanations for the mishaps in the world. At the end, Voltaire, who is a man with little belief in God, brings Pangloss to admit that his beliefs are nonsensical.
             Other characters in the book are satirized to bring forth Voltaire's issue with religious hypocrisy. We encounter different "religious" leaders who portray non-ethical behaviors. Candide and Pangloss experience religious prejudice as religious leaders decide to carry out violent acts on them when they express their philosophy of life. We meet a Franciscan (who has taken a vow of poverty) f
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